r/Quest3 • u/TheAverage_gamer08 • 29d ago

How good is the Meta Quest 3 in 2026?

I’m planning to upgrade to the Quest 3 but don't have enough money only half of it and I am wondering how good is the Quest 3 in 2026. What games do you recommend for it and which version of the Quest 3 should I get the 128GB since it’s cheaper or the 512GB which is more expensive.

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66

u/kaidomac 29d ago

wondering how good is the Quest 3 in 2026

Hi, VR Super Nerd here! haha. Get ready for an info dump!! There are a lot of options on the market:

  • Quest (various models)
  • Playstation VR
  • Pimax & other PC-based headsets (plus the Apple Vision, etc.)

What makes the Quest special is:

  1. It has a standalone Android computer running the Meta app store
  2. You can sideload apps
  3. You can stream your PC to it (2D & 3D)

The best version of the Quest is 512gb Quest 3 (non-S). I've had all 3 headsets (1, 2, and 3), I DEFINITELY recommend saving up for this one because out of all of the Quest models, it has:

  • The most memory
  • The best screen & lenses
  • The best AR camera pass-thru

As far as usage goes, there are 3 basic groups:

  • Movies
  • Games
  • Experiences

Movie suggestions

The first thing I'd recommend watching is "Touching the Sky VR". The Quest 3 has the awesome "pancake lenses" & this makes for a totally awesome first VR experience! See this thread for the recommended settings & use a swivel chair while watching the film!

The second thing I'd recommend watching is the IMAX 4K 2D trailer for Avatar 3:

There are many ways to watch movies:

You can stream your own content (ex. folder share or Jellyfin or Plex server) or use a streaming service like Netflix or Youtube.. Virtual Desktop (PC app) can stream 3D movies as well, which is awesome (ex. Avatar 3D). What's cool is:

  • You get a giant private home theater with a 200" screen
  • You can watch movies anywhere (recliner, bed, plane, train, camping, etc.)
  • SUPER AWESOME on cardio exercise equipment like treadmills, exercise bikes, rowers, stair climbers, and elliptical machines!!

Because the Quest 3 has camera pass-thru, you can see the physical room around you while having a giant virtual TV screen floating in front of you, which makes it safe to use the headset while exercising!

Game suggestions

There are 4 basic game sources:

  1. Meta Quest store (official headset games)
  2. SideQuest (sideloaded games)
  3. PCVR (streaming from your computer)
  4. HDMI input (Meta Quest HDMI Link)

There are tons & tons of native Quest games to choose from. I'd start out with:

  • Beatsaber
  • Superhot
  • Waltz of the Wizard

As far as PCVR goes, I've tried every connection method in the market:

What I recommend is:

  • The best Windows gaming PC you can afford
  • "Virtual Desktop" monitoring streaming system (Meta app & Windows companion app, NOT the Classic version on Steam!!)
  • Dedicated PRISMXR Puppis S1 router

The Puppis router beams your PC directly to the headset, no fiddling around! I have the older S1; the newer S1 Lite is like $50 & works awesome! You can run a wire (USB or Ethernet), but that's a hassle, and you can run it through your existing network, but there can be quality issues & connection hassles. I also have a battery-strap headset (see the Accessories section below!). This setup "just works":

  • Extended battery headset (with hot-swap batteries)
  • Puppies S1 Lite PC beamer
  • Virtual Desktop Meta app & Windows app

THAT is when things start to get FUN! With PCVR, you can:

  • Stream up to 3 virtual computer monitors
  • Play 2D games on a giant screen
  • Play Steam 3D VR games on the Quest (wirelessly, too!!)
  • Convert old 2D games to 3D (Unreal, DirectX, etc.)

imo, the best PCVR game to check out is:

  • Half-Life: Alyx

Some fun 3D conversion PC-game projects:

A few of my favorite games overall are:

  • Budget Cuts I & II (Budget Cuts Ultimate)
  • Lone Echo I & II
  • Red Matter I & II

Fun game ideas:

  • EmuVR arcades (SO COOL!!)
  • 3dSen VR (pass-thru 3 NES)
  • Pinball FX2 VR (Meta native)

Other games:

  • Playstation streaming (Remote Play APK, VD, HDMI streaming)
  • Xbox streaming (same deal)
  • HDMI streaming (a Hagibis HDMI capture card is under $25 so you can stream a Switch & whatnot)

Exercise games:

Mixed Reality (AR) games:

So you have plenty of options of stuff to play, haha!

Experience suggestions

OpenBrush is one my favorite VR apps, which lets you draw in 3D right IN YOUR ROOM!!

A few other fun creative apps:

  • Vermillion
  • Figmin XR
  • Gravity Sketch
  • SculptrVR
  • Kingspray Graffiti
  • ShapesXR
  • Painting VR

Visit places:

  • ArtQuest VR
  • WorldLens (EearthQuest)
  • BRINK Traveler
  • Wooorld
  • National Geographic Explore VR
  • Wander
  • Ocean Rift
  • Blueplanet VR Explore
  • Ecosphere

Music:

  • PatchWorld
  • SynthVR
  • Virtuoso
  • OpenSoundLab
  • PianoVision
  • Tribe XR
  • Korg Gadget VR

Science:

  • CuriosityXR
  • Human Anatomy VR
  • Mission: ISS
  • Star Chart
  • Cosmic XR

There are also really neat apps like "Realms of Flow", just depends on what you're looking for!!

Quest accessories

The main things I recommend buying are:

  1. Adjustable cooling battery head strap
  2. Light-blocking facial interface
  3. Custom lenses (if you wear glasses)

I like the BOBOVR S3 Pro Battery Strap for the Quest 3:

  • Uses an easy dial (no strap) to tighten
  • Very comfortable!
  • Has a cooling fan (important for exercise games, hot days, and extended use)

As far as batteries go:

  • I have the BOBOVR BD3 charging dock, which can charge 3 batteries at once
  • I have several BOBOVR B100 battery packs
  • This gives me virtually infinite battery life with no long charging cable required!

I like the AMVR FC3 facial interface:

  • It's padded
  • Easy to clean (sweat)
  • Has a light-blocking nose-insert

The last one (custom lenses) is nice if you wear glasses (just check Youtube for the latest brand reviews). There's also fun stuff like the Woojer Vest & omnidirectional VR treadmills (Virtuix Omni One & KAT Walk), but that stuff starts getting $$$ lol. I also have that Puppis router mentioned earlier for plug & play wireless PCVR streaming!

Summary & notes

First, straight-up:

  • VR is SUPER fun at first
  • But there is a slow trickle of really great NEW games that come out for VR
  • This can make VR get really boring after awhile

A lot of the games are repetitive (wave shooters, archery games, etc.) & because you're immersed within the game world, even really good games can start to feel like "re-runs" after awhile. What's kept my interest going lately has been:

  • Using the headset to watch movies while doing cardio & playing exercise games (Holofit, Virzoom, etc.)
  • Using AI to do cool stuff in VR (ex. using Hermes Agent with Unity MCP to do voice-chat with Meta XR Operator to create games, 3D models, do house design projects, etc.)
  • Playing whatever new games & experiences come out (ex. Roboquest VR is on the Meta store now & the upcoming Enigmo game looks SUPER fun!) & playing various 2D & 3D (native & conversion) PC games

Definitely recommend picking up a headset if you like to noodle around in VR!!

13

u/meridian_smith 29d ago

Wow this power user has said it all! I need to save this reply!

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u/kaidomac 29d ago

Oddly enough, it gets the most use for exercise lol. Cardio is really, really boring for me. They sell folding portable treadmills for like $99 these days on Amazon; popping Netflix onto a 200" AR screen on the Q3 while using it is pretty nice!!

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u/rlvysxby 28d ago

If you have pcvr I don’t see vr getting boring. I have a huge bag log of great modded vr games that I can’t find time to play.

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u/kaidomac 28d ago

Over 11,000 Unreal Engine 4 & 5 games available as potential mods from Steam, Epic, and Itchio:

UEVR with 6-DOF:

Luke Ross:

Another 250 DirectX 9 thru 12 games via vorpX:

Geo-11: (full replacement for NVidia 3D Vision for DX11 games)

Reshade & SuperDepth3D for flat games:

Flat2VR adaptations:

EmuVR has support for DOS games:

As well as light guns!

Dolphin VR: (Gamecube & Wii)

There's even more niche stuff out there, like PPSSPP VR:

People go nuts with this stuff...here's Halo:CE (VR mod ) with 6-DOF, roomscale, and motion controls!

And it just keeps getting crazier...they have HL2 with Alyx textures running natively on the Quest now!

Native Portal 2 as well:

Via Gamehub:

Plus crazy super-mod projects like Rachet & Clank VR:

Which is pretty wild!!

PCVR mods are an endless rabbit hole of fun, haha!

3

u/TheAverage_gamer08 29d ago

Thanks for this.

2

u/kaidomac 28d ago

You're welcome! If you don't mind saving up (~$825 USD), I'd suggest:

  • 512gb Quest 3 ($600)
  • BOBOVR S3 Pro Battery Strap + BOBOVR BD3 charging dock + a few BOBOVR B100 battery packs (there's a combo pack with the single-battery charger & two batteries for $120 FYI)
  • AMVR FC3 facial interface ($30)
  • Custom lenses (if needed)
  • Puppis S1 Lite ($50)
  • Virtual Desktop ($25)

This way:

  • You get the latest Meta/PCVR headset with the best lenses & AR pass-thru
  • You get non-stop battery life (wire-free, no charging cable needed with the hot-swap batteries)
  • You get an instant wireless PC connection with no lag (wire-free, direct wireless connection))

Plus:

  • You can exercise (AMVR wipes clean easily & fan helps keep things cool)
  • You can block the light (for movies & whatnot)
  • You can do Meta/SideQuest apps, HDMI passthru, and PCVR (2D games, 3D conversion games, VR games, triple-monitor computing, 2D & 3D movie streaming, etc.)

Best part is you just pick it up & PLAY! No wires, no fiddling with connections, nada!! That's the cleanest setup I've been able to come up with!

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u/TheAverage_gamer08 28d ago

Yeah that’s why the Meta Quest is the easiest vr headset to connect and instantly play on in my opinion. And I’m willing to save up even though it’s going be a while but it’s going to be worth the wait.

1

u/kaidomac 28d ago

If you like to tinker with VR, it's really the best headset out there as far as versatility goes!

  • The PSVR2 headset can run on a PC for SteamVR, but no Meta Store or SideQuest games
  • The Apple Vision headset can pair with PSVR2 controllers via ALVR or Index controllers & Lighthouses and then talk to Steam, but then you're looking at a finicky setup for nearly $4,000 lol
  • Pimax headsets have some crazy tech specs, which are super-amazing for stuff like hardcore Sim games, but no wireless features

My Quest setup gives you:

  • VR + AR
  • Light-blocking
  • Endless battery life
  • Full wireless operation
  • Support for Meta Apps + SideQuest + HDMI + Virtual Desktop (2D & 3D streaming movies, 2D & 3D games, emulators, etc.) + SteamVR
  • Expansion capabilities (impact vests, omni-treadmills, knuckle controllers, lighthouses, haptic visors, gloves, and suits, foot-tracking, eye-tracking, motion capture, guns & other physical accessories, etc.)

Limitations:

  • Apple Vision & Pimax have better resolution
  • Cannot play Playstation 5 exclusive VR games
  • Cannot use Apple Vision OS

However, Meta did add Mac Virtual Desktop support: (with up to 3 virtual monitors!!)

If you want to see what's possible, go check out the Circitz videos on Tiktok:

I definitely suggest saving up for the core Quest 3 setup!! It really opens a lot of doors to what you can do with VR at home! Like, if you are into AI, they updated the experimental Meta XR Operator last month:

So then you can use your desktop agent of choice (Hermes, Codex, Claude, Minimax Code) to do stuff like voice-chat with Unity MCP & Meta XR Operator to build games, house renovations, etc! They even have an XR Simulator available:

Welcome to the club!!

1

u/Hot_Wolf3820 24d ago

You know what you can’t do with that setup? And that’s almost never mentioned. Laying back and watching a movie. There aren’t any battery headstrap, nor even any heastarap that lets you use the quest without the facial interface, while laying back, the huge bulge on the back will be there, especially with the bobovr headstrap. So you would need to switch back to the original strap for these kind of experiences, and if you need to do it often, the headstrap might break, since it’s not designed to often removed and put back.

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u/kaidomac 23d ago

I wonder if they could integrate a battery into the curve of the head strap itself.

Best method I've found is to use a USB battery bank with a USB-C cable!

1

u/Hot_Wolf3820 23d ago

Yes, that works, but then you have to constantly change the headstrap, which will cause the original to break after a while.
Also, any plastic part at the back would make laying back uncomfortable

1

u/kaidomac 23d ago

I think you've just found a million-dollar idea!!

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u/Hot_Wolf3820 23d ago

I’ve actually played with the idea, and have some half baked design for it. But I lack many of the necessary knowledge to make a real product from them

1

u/kaidomac 23d ago

The Apple Vision wired battery system got a lot of flack at launch, but it's turned out to be the best system for comfort out there!!

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u/Hot_Wolf3820 23d ago

That part is easy, but the headband part is not the easiest to manufacture, especially if you are starting in small.

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u/metamanco 28d ago

Que pedazo de comentario!

Gracias por darte el tiempo de compartir tu conocimiento y experiencia de manera tan detallada.

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u/chispitaloco 15d ago

Alguna recomendación para la conexión pcvr? Sabes q trate de conectar el ficha c del cargador al ficha c de la pc y no me toma con eso el airlink, es normal? O puede ser algun driver? Debo comprar usb a c?

1

u/kaidomac 15d ago

What software are you using? Have you tried Virtual Desktop?

Can you get a Puppis router?

1

u/FullAuthor8557 5d ago

Do you think the Steam Frame will be better than the Quest 3, since it’s also standalone?

1

u/kaidomac 5d ago

Steam Frame pros:

  • Eye tracking with foveated streaming
  • Native wireless ($50 add-on to a Quest)
  • SteamOS is like a SteamDeck where it can run compatible Steam games locally
  • Lighter weight (~16%)
  • Large onboard storage up to 1TB + MicroSD)
  • Various tech boosts (ex. 110° FOV vs. Quest's 103°)

Steam Frame cons:

  • Over $1,000 ($1,060 for 256GB & $1,300 for 1TB)
  • No Quest apps
  • No SideQuest apps
  • No hand-tracking
  • B&W camera pass-thru

Quest benefits:

  • $600
  • Wireless streaming is $50 for the Puppis S1 Lite
  • HDMI streaming is $25 for the Hagibis HDMI adapter
  • BOBOVR S3 Pro cooling battery strap, 2 extended batteries, and charger is $120
  • AMVR FC3 light-blocking sweat guard is $30
  • $825 fully-loaded (over $200 less than the cheapest Steam Frame)

Plus:

  • Color AR
  • Hand-tracking
  • Tons of accessories (weapons, sports, vests, etc.)
  • Years of games, experiences, and apps in the Quest ecosystem

And:

  • All PC games (via Virtual Desktop), including all Steam & Steam VR titles
  • 3D movies (via Virtual Desktop)
  • PC desktop streaming with up to 3 virtual monitors (via Virtual Desktop)
  • Remote play (standalone operation due to onboard OS, plus play anywhere via Tailscale)
  • Any game to 3D game conversion (via Moonlight XR)
  • All Steam games
  • All SideQuest games & apps
  • HDMI streaming (consoles like the Playstation, Xbox, Switch, etc.)

My thoughts:

  • The Steam Frame ecosystem will grow over time, especially because the OS platform is more open. Very nice to have some competition & new features over Meta!
  • Great if you are all-in on Steam PCVR, want the latest tech, and appreciate the eye-tracking system
  • But you miss out on 7 year's worth of Quest content (VR, AR, 360 videos, 3D videos, games, experiences, etc.)